Light Exercise Significantly Reduces Fatigue Symptoms
Engaging in regular, low intensity exercise can help sedentary people, who regularly complain of fatigue, to become greater their energy levels by 20 percent and wane their fatigue by 65 percent, according to a new University of Georgia study.
Low-intensity exercise and workout benefits
“Too often we believe that a quick workout will leave us worn out – especially when we are even now feeling fatigued,” said researcher Tim Puetz, who recently completed his doctorate at UGA and is the lead author of the study. “However, we have shown that just exercise be possible to actually go a long way in increasing feelings of energy – particularly in sedentary individuals.”
Puetz co-authored the study with professor Patrick O’Connor, co-director of the UGA Exercise Psychology Laboratory, and former UGA learner Sara Flowers. The team’s results be present to answer in the February issue of the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
O’Connor said previous studies – including one that he and Puetz co-authored in 2006 – have shown that exercise can significantly improve energy levels and decrease fatigue. Those studies, however, primarily looked at patients with medicinal conditions such as cancer, heart disease and mental health problems. In this latest study, the researchers well-versed volunteers who had fatigue that was persistent yet didn’t meet the criteria for a medical condition such as inveterate fatigue syndrome. O’Connor said about 25 percent of the not special population experiences such jade.
“A lot of people are overworked and not sleeping aid enough,” O’Connor said. “Exercise is a way for people to have feeling more energetic. There’s a philosophical basis for it, and there are advantages to it compared to things like caffeine and energy drinks.”
The researchers recruited 36 volunteers who did not produce regularly and had reported constant fatigue based steady a commonly used health survey. The volunteers were divided into three groups: The first engaged in 20 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise three times a week for six weeks; the second engaged in low-intensity aerobic exercise for the same time period; the control group did not exercise.
The low- and moderate-intensity groups had a 20 percent increase in energy levels over the control group. Surprisingly, the low-intensity group had a greater reduction in fatigue levels than the moderate-intensity group, 65 percent compared to 49 percent, respectively.
“It could be that moderate-intensity exercise is too much for the masses who are already fatigued,” O’Connor said, “and that might contribute to them not getting as great an improvement as they would had they done the low-intensity exercise.”
He adds that energy and fatigue aren’t exactly opposites of each other. A student who stays up late to finish a term paper may touch fatigued, for example, but may also feel energized as she nears the period of the paper.
The volunteers in the study used exercise bikes that allowed the researchers to control their level of exertion so that low-intensity exercise was defined as 40 percent of their peak oxygen consumption and moderate-intensity render uneasy was defined as 75 percent of peak oxygen consumption. instead of comparison, O’Connor said a leisurely, easy advance by steps is low-intensity exercise, while a fast-paced walk with hills is moderate-intensity exercise.
The team’s analysis also found that the improvements in energy and extra duty were not related to increases in aerobic fitness that the exercisers experienced. Puetz said the finding suggests that exercise acts directly on the central nervous system to increase pluck and reduce exhaust.
“Exercise traditionally has been associated with physical health, but we are quickly learning that exercise has a more holistic force on the human body and includes effects on psychological health,” Puetz said. “What this means is that in every workout a single step is not righteous a step closer to a healthier body, but also to a healthier mind.”
- February 28th
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